Colonial house on PBS

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

I am excited, next week (may 17th) Colonial house starts, it's like Fronteir house or 1900's house, I remember on the old glitter how we chatted about fronteir house. Anyone else planning to watch this show? :)

jt

roxy_fondue · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 6:33 pm Post subject:

oooh...i remember watching Frontier house last year on PBS. at least i think it was frontier house. it was the one with the family that pretended to be noble and had servants? it took place in Britain during the Edwardian times. hmmm...that doesn't sound very "frontier-ish" to me. maybe i'm thinking of a different show. which makes this entire post non-applicable. however, i'm still anxious to watch colonial house.

history + reality television = one of my pathetic, dorky dreams.

roxy the edwardian

robotgirl · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 47

Roxy, that was Manor House. Frontier House was the season before.

I'm so excited for Colonial House! I will have to tape it though because my local affiliate is airing it in four hour chunks, and that's just too much tv for me at once.

mystril · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 11:07 pm Post subject:

I loved Frontier House -- and I'm looking forward to Colonial House. I wonder whatever happened with that one fellow from Frontier House who left his wife to go live in a more primitive style again. I felt bad for his family.

brdgt · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 8:41 am Post subject:

I love those shows (1900 house, frontier house, surviving the iron age, manor house, etc.)! It's not just the history but how people's real personalities come out when they are put under that kind of stress - the sexist father on 1900 house? Yikes!

This one seems particularly neat because they not only have families but single individuals who will represent free citizens and indentured servants - and they all have to abide by Puritan law, complete with its punishement system.

roxy_fondue · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 9:43 am Post subject:

ah, manor house. thanks for reminding me of the title!

does anyone know when colonial house starts?

Miss M · Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 168 Location: Plano, TX

it starts on the 17th - 7pm. incidently, Oprah will make an appearance on this version of the series. That should be pretty interesting! Can you imagine? I am very excited to see the show(honestly, I love seeing the period clothes!) & the rx of the people when they see Oprah arrive and her impression of everything/their impression of her. I remember that she was very taken with Frontier House.
Whoever came up with this idea over at PBS is a genius!!

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

I was home early yesterday, and caught Oprah, she's going to have a show about her and the colonial period today.

I don't feel all that bad for the family where the husband left, it was that woman's dream to go on the show and I think he was really coerced into it and then ended up not wanting to leave, she seemed like she was the only one who really wanted to be there and forced her entire family to go. As far as I know those aren't his children, they're hers, they didn't seem all that close to me, but like others have said, your real personalities come through.

jt

robotgirl · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 47

Oprah is not actually going to appear on the PBS series, thank God. Love her or hate her, having a famous talk-show host as a visitor is not really historically accurate, you know? (Okay, I sort of hate her and don't want her ruining my beloved House series!)

The footage shot will be used for her show only, although PBS has offered some two mintue behind-the scenes filler segments that affiliates can choose to air between programs. I work for a PBS affiliate, can you tell? :)

mystril · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 3:17 pm Post subject:

Actually, I don't think people's real personalities come through on reality television, even PBS reality television. I think they're edited to emphasize certain parts of people's personalities and de-emphasize other.

I felt bad for the kids mostly because it seemed like that man was the closest thing to a father figure that they had and their mother was a little difficult to handle. Though that may have been the editing. And while things like that happen every day, they don't happen every day on television. It may have been particularly poignant because right beside this family that's visibly falling apart, you had happy all-American family with two girls whose biggest problems were that they missed their makeup and other convienences.

And then, there were the newlyweds, who I liked, but they didn't get enough camera time, probably because there wasn't as much drama associated with them.

I forgot about Manor House. It wasn't quite as entertaining as Frontier House.

roxy_fondue · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 6:32 pm Post subject:

i'm very excited for this! i was watching oprah today and saw a promo for monday's show in which she enters the "colonial house" lifestyle. man, she looks so different without her make-up and fancy clothes (and complementary lighting). this whole "living in a different era" is such a fascinating concept.

ah, reality tv. it's my favourite bitch.

roxy, who has too much time on her hands

Snufkin · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 8:13 pm Post subject:

Me! I swear Frontier House was the best reality show ever because of the bickering between the families from Tennesee and California. I wonder if the couple who seperated (Mark and Susan?) ever got a divorce? Or if he's still doing the whole Grizzley Adams thing in Montana.

roxy_fondue · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 11:18 pm Post subject:

just watched the first two hours of colonial house and i'm impressed! it seems so harsh and unforgiving. am very glad i get to watch it from the comfort of my reclining chesterfield.

i know that i should be paying more attention to the rituals and culture of 17th century life, but the bachelor "freemen" are very enjoyable to look at. makes me want to put on a bonnet and corset and soak some dried peas, just to get a closer look.

thought it was very sad when one participating family had to leave because the daughter's fiance was killed in a car accident. i thought the producers of the show did an excellent job in portraying this event. the audience was able to view the immensity of the situation without any exploitation of the family.

all in all, that there's some good entertainment. puts all of the other reality shows to shame, that's for sure.

roxy, who sometimes wishes that PBS had more breaks (nature DOES call, even when watching publicly funded television afterall)

Miss M · Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 168 Location: Plano, TX

I agree, I am so glad they did NOT show the family, in particular the daughter. I think the words of the "servant" Julia were very powerful and expressed the intensity, pain and horror of the situation much better than actually showing the family ever could.

PBS has done a wonderful job and kudos to the participants! Very fascinating. Watching all this makes me feel VERY thankful I live in the 21st century!

Am I the only person who thinks the voiceover lady has a supremely soothing voice?

sun bear · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 443

i had a dinner guest so i missed the first 40 min but i thoroughly enjoyed the rest and had some weird colonial/reality style dream last night and woke up with a litte rash on my hand and my first thought was poison ivy even thought I wasn't touching any leaves. Hopefully it was just a stress thing i.e. hives and will go down during the day...but it's funny how my dream transfered over into the real world.
jt